REVEALED: This Is What The Bristol Wave Pool Would Look Like If They Turned It All The Way Up

Luke Gartside

4 years ago

At almost exactly the same time as The Wave Bristol cut its ribbon, the world’s only other commercial Wavegarden Cove pool started pumping out its first waves.

Located in Melbourne, URBN surf won’t actually be open to the public until January, however recently they sent a few top-level surfers out to test the various modes. Since the tech is identical to Bristol, Stab’s latest clip offers up a glimpse into what we could – and hopefully will- be seeing once they turn the Bristol one up.

Now, after facing a bit of backlash for only offering the gentle Malibu settings to punters out the gates, The Wave founder Nick Hounsfield penned a post on their blog making the valid point that some surfer’s inability to judge their own standard would make just turning it up and letting people have a crack at whichever setting they wanted downright irresponsible.

On top of this, we’re guessing there are serious administrative hurdles associated with allowing people to book onto different wave settings at different times, especially since both sides have to run the same setting). Then there’s the impact different settings have on the beginner waves (the more powerful the wave is out the back, the less surfable the whitewash is on the inside) how many they can run in a set (bigger more powerful waves= fewer in the sets) and how all of this affects the bottom line and the huge amount of invested cash the Wave is now trying to recuperate.

(Let the length and amount of bracketed subclauses in that sentence serve as a testament to the complexity of what they’re up against.)

Back to the video above, it’s clear to see that ‘beast mode’ ain’t really a viable option for your average British surfer; even Parko (arguably the world’s best forehand barrel rider in 4-foot waves) ain’t exactly breezing through it and a few of the boys describe getting pinned to the concrete floor. I think we can safely say that one will never be available to the Bristol going public. And that’s fine.

But what about the point break setting (and the one with the little barrel on the inside) they surf around the 5 min mark? That thing looks less like the fun novelty Harbour Wall wave currently on offer in Bristol and more like one of the days of the year at Fistral. That’s the one we (and now no doubt, you) have got our sights set on. Fingers crossed that health and safety clearance will have been achieved on it by the time the water ticks up to boardies temps next summer.

Then, there’s the air section they switch on at 6.47.

Now that thing has the capacity to be a game-changer for Britain’s best up and comers.

While there’s a good level of talent coming through, a lack of proper, consistent air friendly waves in Blighty means unless British kids have got the funds to go away every winter from a young age they are condemned to lag a long way behind Brazilians, Aussies, Hawaiians and even the French when it comes to developing prowess above the lip. The perfect little ramp to feather pillow landing you see in the clip above could change all that.

So here’s a direct plea to the folks at the Wave. If you want us to ever again have a CT hopeful, find out what sequence of buttons they pushed to create that perfect section, assemble Britain’s best up and coming surfers and let them have at it for at least 3 hours a week until they all punt like Toledo. Please and thank you.